Councillors have clashed over staff cuts and the morale of workers at Norfolk County Council during a discussion of proposals to help plug a £36m funding gap at the authority.
The Reform-led administration at County Hall has put forward £32m of cuts and savings to help the authority - which employs more than 8,000 people - balance its books for the upcoming financial year.
Those cuts include deletion of a number of posts and not filling vacancies within the council's communications department to save more than £340,000.
A further £130,000 would be saved by axing the council's free quarterly Your Norfolk magazine, currently delivered to 400,000 people across the county.
The matter was discussed at a meeting of the council's strategic and cultural select committee on Wednesday (October 21).
At the meeting, Green county councillor Ben Price branded the job losses "stealth cuts" and questioned whether more would follow in other council departments.
Jason Butler, Reform's cabinet member for efficiency, performance and pensions oversight, said the authority had been spending 0.25pc of its budget on communications, while Suffolk and Essex spent 0.2pc.
He said: "After the post deletions, which were required because it was just too big and was not delivering for us, we go down to 0.22pc, so we are still spending more than comparable authorities.
"As far as we are concerned, it is all about outcomes, not posts. The council is great at putting on posts, not so good at reducing posts. This is a sensible realignment."
On further job cuts, Mr Butler said: "The chief executive is the head of paid services. He has to lead on the whole issue of workforce management, the number of posts and efficiency.
"My job is to assist him in ensuring we are rightsizing the council for both the resources we have and the demands we have.
"Our focus is to make sure we get more out of what we've got first, but I'm sure the CEO will come back with his view of the future, which is right and proper as he is the head of paid services."
Kay Mason Billig, Conservative leader and former council leader, asked how many posts were expected to disappear and whether redundancy costs had been accounted for.
Mr Butler did not give a figure, but said increased use of technology, such as artificial intelligence, was showing how productivity could be improved and costs saved.
Harvey Bullen, director of finance, said the budget contained an allowance for redundancies.
Mr Price said the uncertainty over jobs was having an impact on the morale of staff.
But Mr Butler said he had seen no evidence that morale was falling and said staff he spoke to were "excited" about the future.
He said: "You may well be speaking to all the people who not happy, but they may be people who are not happy all the time.
"I don't doubt there are people worried about their future because all councils are under pressure.
"We mustn't confuse a general concern and anxiety about the future and viability of councils and people's jobs within it - and their ability to put food on a table and have an income - with a need for us to do what we need to do."
Mr Butler said he wanted to "work with the willing" - those staff prepared to embrace better ways of working.
He said he "did not know" whether the council would have the same number of staff five years from now, but said he did have "humanity and empathy" for those who are worried.
On the potential axing of Your Norfolk, initially launched in 2003, Liberal Democrat councillor Adam Varley said such publications were "vital for communication".
And Mrs Mason Billig said she feared it showed the county was "shrinking away" from its residents.
The proposals will be considered in setting the council's budget in February next year.
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